The Sorrow of War

Bảo Ninh · b. 1952 · Vietnam

Originally Nỗi buồn chiến tranh (Vietnamese) · translated by Phan Thanh Hảo & Frank Palmos

Why it matters

A shell-shocked veteran-novelist's memories of combat, loss, and a wartime love affair surface out of order, refusing any redemptive shape to his suffering. The rawest, least triumphant novel of the Vietnam War, acclaimed abroad and long controversial at home.

At a glance

Nonlinear, dreamlike structure moves between timelines without signposting, mirroring traumatic memory.